A Show of Humanity

I've been sick since Saturday evening. Today is Wednesday and, while I'm feeling better, I'm still a bit run down still. I started feeling bad Saturday at dinner time and I went to bed early. I woke up several times during the night and barely made it to the bathroom before loosing my dinner.

By the time Tuesday rolled around, I was whipped. I hadn't eaten anything that I could keep down since my lunch on Saturday. Even water wasn't staying around long. The Asst. Zookeeper announced that he was taking the night off work and that I was going down to the hospital. I didn't even argue - I was relieved.

The ER was busy Tuesday night. After chatting with the nurse (who didn't even make eye contact with me), I went to spend the next hour and a half in the waiting room. It's really hard to curl up in one of those chairs when you don't feel well, but I managed.

Once I was taken back, I met Dr. Lewitt. He's probably in his mid to late fifties. He came into my area, introduced himself, shook my hand. And he made eye contact with me this entire time - none of that chart-flipping that doctors tend to do.

Then he startled me. He SAT DOWN. He would ask me a question and look at me while I answered, then he would write something after I had finished my answer. Then he would ask the next question. He was very personable and never appeared to be in a hurry.

After I'd been hooked to an IV for fluids for a while, he came back in and said that he wanted me to drink some juice. If I could keep it down, then I would be allowed to go home. He listed the drinks they had available and I picked one. Then he went and got it HIMSELF, and brought me a cup with ice and poured it for me.

I left the hospital thinking that he was a really great doctor. But then, he called the house on Wednesday to check on me. The Asst. Zookeeper talked to him. He said he was just calling to see how I was doing since he had released me from the ER. I've NEVER had a doctor call my house for any reason. Usually, it's a secretary who calls, and that's just about making or rescheduling an appointments. He calls himself just to see if I was doing better.

Wow.

Bowling with 6 year olds

We had a bowling party for Gavin and his classmates. Of the 15 kids in his class, only 7 were able to come. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as I happened to be fairly sick that day. Dealing with the 8 of them was about as much as I could handle.

The kids all got to bowl for one hour. Our bowling alley put out the bumpers to prevent gutter balls. And they also gave us ramps for the kids to us. They could roll their balls down the ramp and onto the lane so that they had a little more speed. They kids thought that was great - for the first half hour. Then no one wanted to bowl anymore.

I had forgotten how fast kids that age get bored with something. My Heathens will bowl for well over an hour, but that's with family. The party crew decided that they were going to play hide-n-seek. And they managed it pretty well without getting under any one's feet or causing trouble.

Here's the song bit:

I love how he's holding his breath forever while he waits for us to finish singing. And the declaration of "I'm 6!" at the end was really cute. I love birthdays.